140-734: Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (also known as Marshmallow Moon in the U.K. and the Philippines and Härkiä, heiniä ja hakkailua in Finland) is a 1952 Paramount Pictures hillbilly musical film directed by Claude Binyon and produced by William Perlberg and George Seaton . It is based on a popular 1919 play by Walter Benjamin Hare which was one of the most produced plays in the history of American theater with 40,000 performances, as of 1952, mainly by amateur groups. The film's cinematographer
280-500: A fourth commercial network . Paramount Pictures purchased the Hughes Television Network (HTN) including its satellite time in planning for PTVS in 1976. Paramount sold HTN to Madison Square Garden Corporation in 1979. But Diller believed strongly in the concept, and so took his fourth-network idea with him when he moved to 20th Century Fox in 1984, where Fox's then freshly installed proprietor, Rupert Murdoch
420-402: A motion comic , with narration from the character Bumblebee. Mark Ryan provides the voice-over work for the role, while the short depicts Megatron's arrival on Earth, as well as Archibald Witwicky's discovery 4 million years later. The short skips to 2003 with Bumblebee arriving on Earth, and Sector 7's pursuit of him. Released on the home video release of Bumblebee , two short films under
560-461: A "Sector 7 Archive" label were released. A short released as an in-universe orientation video, of Agent Burns addressing new hires. A short film, released in the form of a motion comic, takes place two years after the events of Bumblebee which depicts a fight between Bumblebee and Soundwave. When Sector 7 is attacked by Soundwave, Bumblebee arrives to protect them. During the ensuing battle, Soundwave demands that Sector 7 give back what belongs to
700-527: A 19-second short video in morse code that translates to "I'm coming for you May 31". On May 31, it was revealed that Megatron would return in the sequel. Bumblebee is a spin-off film and prequel centered on the Transformers character of the same name and set in the 1980s. The design and style of the film included both elements from the current franchise and influences from the 1980s Transformers: Generation 1 toyline. Principal photography on
840-583: A 1956 remake of his 1923 film The Ten Commandments . DeMille died in 1959. Like some other studios, Paramount saw little value in its film library and sold 764 of its pre-1950 films to MCA Inc. / EMKA, Ltd. (known today as Universal Television ) in February 1958. By the early 1960s, Paramount's future was doubtful. The high-risk movie business was wobbly; the theater chain was long gone; investments in DuMont and in early pay-television came to nothing; and
980-416: A Lesser God and The Accused . During this period, responsibility for running the studio passed from Eisner and Katzenberg to Frank Mancuso, Sr. (1984) and Ned Tanen (1984) to Stanley R. Jaffe (1991) and Sherry Lansing (1992). More so than most, Paramount's slate of films included many remakes and television spin-offs ; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of
1120-467: A Paramount network from 25 years earlier. In 1999, Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the start-up network to the newly acquired CBS unit, which Viacom bought in 2000 – an ironic confluence of events as Paramount had once invested in CBS, and Viacom had once been the syndication arm of CBS, as well. During this period the studio acquired some 30 TV stations to support
1260-458: A Transformer would feel the need to disguise himself in front of a bunch of lizards. Movie-wise, I mean. Once the general audience is fully on board with the whole thing, maybe Dinobots in the future." Bay said he hated the Dinobots and they had never been in consideration for being featured in the movies. It is the last film in the series to be distributed by DreamWorks. For the third film, as
1400-524: A bid for a merger with Paramount Communications; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with Barry Diller 's QVC . But Viacom prevailed, ultimately paying $ 10 billion for the Paramount holdings. Viacom and Paramount had planned to merge as early as 1989. Paramount is the last major film studio located in Hollywood proper. When Paramount moved to its present home in 1927, it was in the heart of
1540-495: A break from fighting robots. Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , who had worked on the two previous Transformers films, declined to return for the third film, with Kurtzman declaring that "the franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we'd given it a lot and didn't have an insight for where to go with it next". Revenge of the Fallen ' s co-writer Ehren Kruger became
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#17327912230751680-548: A busy schedule. The studio began courting other writers in May ;2007, but as they were unimpressed with their pitches , they convinced Orci and Kurtzman to return. The studio also signed on Ehren Kruger , as he impressed Bay and Hasbro president Brian Goldner with his knowledge of the Transformers mythology, and because he was friends with Orci and Kurtzman. The writing trio were paid $ 8 million. Screenwriting
1820-753: A car represents in the United States ". The characters of Sam and Mikaela were the sole point of view given in Orci and Kurtzman's first draft. The Transformers had no dialogue, as the producers feared talking robots would look ridiculous. The writers felt that even if it would look silly, not having the robots speak would betray the fanbase. The first draft also had a battle scene in the Grand Canyon . Spielberg read each of Orci and Kurtzman's drafts and gave notes for improvement. The writers remained involved throughout production, adding additional dialogue for
1960-536: A fan of the comics and toys, signed on as executive producer in 2004. John Rogers wrote the first draft, which pitted four Autobots against four Decepticons, and featured the Ark spaceship. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , fans of the cartoon, were hired to rewrite the script in February 2005. Spielberg suggested that "a boy and his car" should be the focus. This appealed to Orci and Kurtzman because it conveyed themes of adulthood and responsibility, "the things that
2100-400: A film," Bay said. "The artistry of this sound group is just amazing. I love, love sound. It's 45–50% of the movies." In addition to the films, the film series has a promotional expanded series that is set both before and after the events of the films. This includes comic books, video games, and novels. While the novels are partially based on the films themselves, and the video games are not in
2240-700: A five-month battle with QVC , and completed the merger in July. At the time, Paramount's holdings included Paramount Pictures, Madison Square Garden , the New York Rangers , the New York Knicks , and the Simon & Schuster publishing house. The deal had been planned as early as 1989, when the company was still known as Gulf and Western. Though Davis was named a member of the board of National Amusements , which controlled Viacom, he ceased to manage
2380-676: A foot in the door at the networks, the newly reincorporated Paramount Television eventually became known as a specialist in half-hour situation comedies. In 1968, Paramount formed Films Distributing Corp to distribute sensitive film product, including Sin With a Stranger , which was one of the first films to receive an X rating in the United States when the MPAA introduced their new rating system . In 1970, Paramount teamed with Universal Pictures to form Cinema International Corporation ,
2520-516: A great idea." In April 2024, Paramount announced that a crossover film is in development. Derek Connolly was hired to write the crossover film in June 2024. Di Bonaventura announced to Collider that the crossover will be the next film. Released separately from the first film on home release in October 2007, on DVD as a Walmart Exclusive; the short is an animated prequel, presented in the form of
2660-432: A lively history, has been turned into a post-production and music-scoring facility for Warners, known simply as "The Lot". For a time the semi-industrial neighborhood around Paramount was in decline, but has now come back. The recently refurbished studio has come to symbolize Hollywood for many visitors, and its studio tour is a popular attraction. In 1983, Gulf and Western began a restructuring process that would transform
2800-516: A major supporting role. That same month, Chinese actress Li Bingbing and comedian T. J. Miller joined the cast. Actor T.J. Miller would be playing the best friend of Wahlberg's character who is a mechanic. Also revealed were two Autobots who would have the following alternate modes—a black-and-blue 2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse named "Drift", and a green 2014 C7 Corvette Stingray concept named Crosshairs. A truck from Western Star Trucks would be Optimus Prime's new alternate mode for
2940-412: A movie factory, turning out sixty to seventy pictures a year. Such were the benefits of having a huge theater chain to fill, and of block booking to persuade other chains to go along. In 1933, Mae West would also add greatly to Paramount's success with her suggestive movies She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel . However, the sex appeal West gave in these movies would also lead to the enforcement of
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#17327912230753080-480: A new company that would distribute films by the two studios outside the United States. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would become a partner in the mid-1970s. Both Paramount and CIC entered the video market with Paramount Home Video (now Paramount Home Entertainment ) and CIC Video , respectively. Robert Evans abandoned his position as head of production in 1974; his successor, Richard Sylbert , proved to be too literary and too tasteful for Gulf and Western's Bluhdorn. By 1976,
3220-512: A new, television-trained team was in place headed by Barry Diller and his "Killer-Dillers", as they were called by admirers or "Dillettes" as they were called by detractors. These associates, made up of Michael Eisner , Jeffrey Katzenberg , Dawn Steel and Don Simpson would each go on and head up major movie studios of their own later in their careers. The Paramount specialty was now simpler. " High concept " pictures such as Saturday Night Fever and Grease hit big, hard, and fast all over
3360-617: A preemptive measure before the release of Revenge of the Fallen , Michael Lucchi and Paramount announced on March 16, 2009, that a third film would be released in IMAX 3-D on July 1, 2011, which earned a surprised response from director Bay: I said I was taking off a year from Transformers . Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 —they asked me on the phone—I said yes to July 1—but for 2012—whoops! Not 2011! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs
3500-591: A producer for subsequent films. A sixth film Bumblebee , directed by Travis Knight , was released in 2018, while a seventh film, Rise of the Beasts , directed by Steven Caple Jr. , was released in 2023. The series has been distributed by Paramount Pictures , and DreamWorks Pictures worked on the first two films. While the Transformers film series has received negative to mixed reception, Bumblebee received positive reviews. Despite its critical reception,
3640-719: A second channel, the Sci-Fi Channel (now known as Syfy ), in 1992. As its name implied, it focused on films and television series within the science fiction genre. Much of the initial programming was owned either by Paramount or Universal. Paramount bought one more television station in 1993: Cox Enterprises ' WKBD-TV in Detroit, Michigan, at the time an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company . In February 1994, Viacom acquired 50.1% of Paramount Communications Inc. shares for $ 9.75 billion, following
3780-499: A sequel to Bumblebee was in development with a script written by Joby Harold , alongside an adaptation of Transformers: Beast Wars with a script written by James Vanderbilt . The film was then scheduled for release on June 24, 2022, that May, while in November, Steven Caple Jr. was hired to serve as director on the project, which serves as both a Bumblebee sequel and Beast Wars adaptation. In April 2021, Anthony Ramos
3920-518: A series of Jack London movies. Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor; until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis, which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation. In 1916, Zukor engineered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged
4060-424: A stable of exclusively-contracted film personnel (outside of Eddie Murphy ); this effort proved unsuccessful and studio president Dawn Steel decided to shut down the department on July 30, 1986. In 1987, Paramount Pictures, MGM/UA Communications Co. and Universal Pictures teamed up in order to market feature film and television product to China, a response to the 25-billion admission tickets that were clocked in
4200-475: A stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille , who would find a suitable site in Hollywood. This place was a rented old horse barn converted into a production facility with an enlarged open-air stage located between Vine Street , Selma Avenue, Argyle Avenue and Sunset Boulevard . It was later known as the Lasky-DeMille Barn . In 1914, their first feature film, The Squaw Man
4340-492: A star on the logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22 and their hidden meaning was dropped. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. The company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California. The most commerciay successful film franchises from Paramount Pictures include Transformers , Mission: Impossible and Star Trek . Additionally,
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4480-558: A stock-swap merger deal between Time and Warner Communications. This caused Time to raise its bid for Warner to $ 14.9 billion in cash and stock. Gulf and Western responded by filing a lawsuit in a Delaware court to block the Time-Warner merger. The court ruled twice in favor of Time, forcing Gulf and Western to drop both the Time acquisition and the lawsuit, and allowing the formation of Time Warner . Paramount used cash acquired from
4620-414: A stultifying trance; not a trace of his well-known wit or drollery is evident in this film. And the songs, which are woodenly delivered by Miss Shore, Mr. Young and Robert Merrill, who plays the city rascal, are hard to remember as far as the door." Variety was lukewarm, reporting: "The bucolic humor presented is of a mild brand, the music score that has been added to the original play is fair, and while
4760-921: Is a 3-episode long retelling of the first half of the Bumblebee film with no spoilers. The series was released on Paramount Pictures' Japanese Twitter account. The film series has met with generally negative to mixed reception. With the exception of Bumblebee , common elements of the original film series were held in low esteem by critics, such as the repeated formulaic plots, sophomoric and toilet humor , female character objectification , clichéd and controversial characterizations, racial and cultural stereotypes , overuse of MacGuffins , product placement , long running times, and excessive retroactive continuity changes (or retcons). The first Transformers film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its groundbreaking visual effects, sound design, action sequences, story, performances, with criticism for
4900-464: Is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global . It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind Universal Pictures ), and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles . In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 24 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with
5040-584: Is the head of the future projects, and worked with franchise director Michael Bay , executive producer Steven Spielberg , and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to organize a "writers' room" that incubates ideas for potential Transformers films. The writers' room members include Christina Hodson , Lindsey Beer, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari ( Ant-Man ), Robert Kirkman ( The Walking Dead ), Art Marcum & Matt Holloway , Zak Penn ( Pacific Rim Uprising ), Jeff Pinkner ( The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ), Ken Nolan , and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Kirkman left
5180-607: Is the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles . Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company . Hungarian-born founder Adolph Zukor , who had been an early investor in nickelodeons , saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to
5320-483: The G.I. Joe film series was once again in development. In June 2023, beginning with Rise of the Beasts , the two franchises began to share continuity. Producer di Bonaventura stated that in future films, actors from the G.I. Joe films may reprise their roles. In July 2023, di Bonaventura stated that while the crossover would not interfere with the continuity of the franchise's first five installments, he believed that "continuity's overblown, because sometimes you miss
5460-462: The Bankruptcy Act . On June 4, 1935, John E. Otterson became president of the re-emerged and newly renamed Paramount Pictures Inc. Zukor returned to the company and was named production chief but after Barney Balaban was appointed president on July 2, 1936, he was soon replaced by Y. Frank Freeman and symbolically named chairman of the board. On August 28, 1935, Paramount Pictures
5600-702: The Kaufman Astoria Studios , and Hollywood, California ), and became an early investor in radio, acquiring for the corporation a 50% interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928 (selling it within a few years; this would not be the last time Paramount and CBS crossed paths). By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, Zukor gained the services of Barney Balaban (who would eventually become Paramount's president in 1936), his brother A. J. Balaban (who would eventually supervise all stage production nationwide and produce talkie shorts), and their partner Sam Katz (who would run
5740-614: The Paramount Publix Corporation . Eventually, Zukor shed most of his early partners; the Frohman brothers, Hodkinson and Goldwyn were out by 1917 while Lasky hung on until 1932, when, blamed for the near-collapse of Paramount in the Great Depression years, he was also tossed out. In 1931, to solve the financial problems of the company Zukor hired taxi/rental car magnate John D. Hertz as chairman of
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5880-607: The Paramount Stations Group , while KECO was renamed to Paramount Parks . Paramount Television launched Wilshire Court Productions in conjunction with USA Networks, before the latter was renamed NBCUniversal Cable , in 1989. Wilshire Court Productions (named for a side street in Los Angeles) produced television films that aired on the USA Networks, and later for other networks. USA Networks launched
6020-710: The Production Code , as the newly formed organization the Catholic Legion of Decency threatened a boycott if it was not enforced. Paramount cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios continued to be successful, with characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor becoming widely successful. One Fleischer series, Screen Songs , featured live-action music stars under contract to Paramount hosting sing-alongs of popular songs. The animation studio would rebound with Popeye , and in 1935, polls showed that Popeye
6160-463: The Transformers film series has generally been successful at the box office, with Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction grossing over $ 1 billion each; the latter was the highest-grossing film of 2014 . It is the 14th-highest-grossing film series , with a total of $ 5.28 billion grossed over seven films to date. A crossover film with G.I. Joe is in development. For the film, producer Don Murphy
6300-620: The film series The Matrix . DeSanto chose to write the treatment from a human point of view to engage the audience, while Murphy wanted it to have a realistic tone, reminiscent of a disaster film . The treatment featured the Autobots Optimus Prime , Ironhide, Jazz , Prowl , Arcee , Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee , and the Decepticons Megatron , Starscream , Soundwave , Ravage, Laserbeak , Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave . Steven Spielberg ,
6440-677: The 13th slasher series, as well as joining forces with Lucasfilm and Steven Spielberg to create the Indiana Jones franchise. Other examples are the Star Trek film series and a string of films starring comedian Eddie Murphy like Trading Places , Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop and its sequels . While the emphasis was decidedly on the commercial, there were occasional less commercial but more artistic and intellectual efforts like I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can , Atlantic City , Reds , Witness , Children of
6580-433: The 1980s Transformers show. Rise of the Beasts received mixed reviews, with critics calling it an improvement over the pre– Bumblebee films, but with some criticism of the runtime. The franchise has been frequently praised and won awards for its visual effects and sound design. Michael Bay praised the crew and highlighted the importance of sound saying "I have like 2,000 people – through their artistry – making my dreams
6720-405: The 2007 film, and some of the action scenes rejected for the original were written into the sequel, such as the way Optimus is reintroduced in this film. Lorenzo di Bonaventura said the studio proposed filming two sequels simultaneously, but he and Bay concurred that was not the right direction for the series. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman originally passed on the sequel because of
6860-537: The 2007 film; this would allow animators to complete sequences if the Directors Guild of America went on strike in July ;2008, which ultimately did not happen. The director considered making a small project in between Transformers and its sequel, but knew "you have your baby and you don't want someone else to take it". The film was given a $ 200 million budget, which was $ 50 million more than
7000-570: The Decepticons. A 13-episode long web mini-series released in 2010 and set within and using the Transformers design from the continuity of the live-action movies. It was released on Hasbro's website and in 2011 re-released on Transformers' official YouTube channel. The series was made by TG Studios in only three months. It is set between the events of Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon . Bumblebee's First Life on Earth ( バンブルビー 初めての地球生活 , Banburubī Hajimete no Chikyū Seikatsu )
7140-543: The FCC that Paramount controlled DuMont. Both DuMont and Paramount Television Network suffered as a result, with neither company able to acquire five O&Os. Meanwhile, CBS, ABC, and NBC had each acquired the maximum of five stations by the mid-1950s. When ABC accepted a merger offer from UPT in 1953, DuMont quickly realized that ABC now had more resources than it could possibly hope to match. It quickly reached an agreement in principle to merge with ABC. However, Paramount vetoed
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#17327912230757280-402: The Fallen because they could not think of a way to justify the Dinobots' choice of form, and were unable to fit in the aircraft carrier. Orci also admitted he was also dismissive of the Dinobots because he does not like dinosaurs. "I recognize I am weird in that department", he said, but he became fonder of them during filming because of their popularity with fans. He added "I couldn't see why
7420-440: The Fallen , but instead deeper into the mythology, to give it more character development, and to make it darker and more emotional. Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was revealed to be Dark of the Moon in October 2010. After Revenge of the Fallen was panned by critics, Bay acknowledged the general flaws of the script, having blamed the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike prior to
7560-551: The Golden Age of Hollywood had just ended, even the flagship Paramount Building in Times Square was sold to raise cash, as was KTLA (sold to Gene Autry in 1964 for a then-phenomenal $ 12.5 million). Their only remaining successful property at that point was Dot Records , which Paramount had acquired in 1957, and even its profits started declining by the middle of the 1960s. Founding father Adolph Zukor (born in 1873)
7700-511: The Hedgehog film series. On August 25, 1983, Paramount Studios caught fire. Two or three sound stages and four outdoor sets were destroyed. When Charles Bluhdorn died unexpectedly, his successor Martin Davis dumped all of Gulf and Western's industrial, mining, and sugar-growing subsidiaries and refocused the company, renaming it Paramount Communications in 1989. With the influx of cash from
7840-677: The Madison Square Garden properties (which also included MSG Network ), a 50% stake in USA Networks (the other 50% was owned by MCA / Universal Pictures ) and Simon & Schuster, Prentice Hall , Pocket Books , Allyn & Bacon , Cineamerica (a joint venture with Warner Communications ), and Canadian cinema chain Famous Players Theatres . That same year, the company launched a $ 12.2 billion hostile bid to acquire Time Inc. in an attempt to end
7980-766: The Paramount-Publix theatre chain in New York City from the thirty-five-story Paramount Theatre Building on Times Square ). Balaban and Katz had developed the Wonder Theater concept, first publicized around 1918 in Chicago. The Chicago Theater was created as a very ornate theater and advertised as a "wonder theater". When Publix acquired Balaban, they embarked on a project to expand the wonder theaters, and starting building in New York City in 1927. While Balaban and Public were dominant in Chicago, Loew's
8120-701: The Sunset and Vine lot to the new building. At present, those facilities are still part of the Paramount Pictures headquarters. Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg , an unerring eye for new talent, to run the new West Coast operations. On April 1, 1927, the company name was changed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation . In September 1927, the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation studio in Astoria (New York City)
8260-854: The Transformer redesigns and product placement. The second film, Revenge of the Fallen , received negative reviews, with criticism of its screenplay and runtime, but praise for its visual effects and sound design. The third film, Dark of the Moon , received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects and sound design, but criticism for its screenplay and runtime. The fourth film, Age of Extinction received negative reviews from critics for its runtime and direction. The fifth film The Last Knight received negative reviews from critics for its direction, thin plot, and overlong runtime. Bumblebee received positive reviews, with praise for its lighter tone, story, visuals, performances, voice acting, direction, action sequences, and faithfulness to
8400-524: The UPN network, also acquiring and merging in the assets of Republic Pictures, Spelling Television and Viacom Productions, almost doubling the size of the studio's television library. The television division produced the dominant prime time show for the decade in Frasier , as well as such long running hits as NCIS and Becker and the dominant prime time magazine show Entertainment Tonight. Paramount also gained
8540-726: The West Coast. The Chicago station got a commercial license as WBKB in 1943, but was sold to UPT along with Balaban & Katz in 1948 and was eventually resold to CBS as WBBM-TV . In 1938, Paramount bought a stake in television manufacturer DuMont Laboratories . Through this stake, it became a minority owner of the DuMont Television Network . Paramount also launched its own network, Paramount Television Network , in 1948 through its television unit, Television Productions, Inc. Paramount management planned to acquire additional owned-and-operated stations ("O&Os");
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#17327912230758680-550: The Yukon , and Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick would be her last major film role. The film also marked opera star Merrill's screen debut. Though produced in Technicolor as an A production, Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick fared poorly at the box office and was relegated to B movie status. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in his April 19, 1952 review: "Claude Binyon, who wrote and directed, must have done so in
8820-615: The artistic acclaim the Fleischer brothers achieved under their management. In 1940, Paramount agreed to a government-instituted consent decree: block booking and "pre-selling" (the practice of collecting up-front money for films not yet in production) would end. Immediately, Paramount cut back on production, from 71 films to a more modest 19 annually in the war years. Still, with more new stars like Bob Hope , Alan Ladd , Veronica Lake , Paulette Goddard , and Betty Hutton , and with war-time attendance at astronomical numbers, Paramount and
8960-517: The brands. Because Orci and Kurtzman were concerned the film could feel like a military recruitment commercial, they chose to make the military believe nations like Iran were behind the Decepticon attack as well as making the Decepticons primarily military vehicles. Bay based Lennox's struggle to get to the Pentagon phone line while struggling with an unhelpful operator from a real account he
9100-517: The companies were separate, the FCC ruled that Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont meant that DuMont and Paramount were in theory branches of the same company. Since DuMont owned three television stations and Paramount owned two, the federal agency ruled neither network could acquire additional television stations. The FCC requested that Paramount relinquish its stake in DuMont, but Paramount refused. According to television historian William Boddy, "Paramount's checkered antitrust history" helped convince
9240-597: The company applied to the FCC for additional stations in San Francisco, Detroit, and Boston. The FCC, however, denied Paramount's applications. A few years earlier, the federal regulator had placed a five-station cap on all television networks: no network was allowed to own more than five VHF television stations. Paramount was hampered by its minority stake in the DuMont Television Network. Although both DuMont and Paramount executives stated that
9380-543: The company's subsidiaries. Its sugar plantations in Florida and the Dominican Republic were sold in 1985; the consumer and industrial products branch was sold off that same year. In 1989, Davis renamed the company Paramount Communications Incorporated after its primary asset, Paramount Pictures. In addition to the Paramount film, television, home video, and music publishing divisions, the company continued to own
9520-456: The company. During this time period, Paramount Pictures went under the guidance of Jonathan Dolgen, chairman and Sherry Lansing , president. During their administration over Paramount, the studio had an extremely successful period of films with two of Paramount's ten highest-grossing films being produced during this period. The most successful of these films, Titanic , co-produced with 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment , became
9660-518: The company. The company remained under the control of trustees for more than a year in order to restructure the debt and pursue a reorganization plan. On December 3, 1934, the reorganization plan was formally proposed. After prolonged hearings in court, final confirmation was obtained on April 25, 1935, when Federal Judge Alfred C. Coxe Jr. approved the reorganization of the Paramount-Publix Corporation under Section 77-B of
9800-477: The corporation from a bloated conglomerate consisting of subsidiaries from unrelated industries to a more focused entertainment and publishing company. The idea was to aid financial markets in measuring the company's success, which, in turn, would help place better value on its shares. Though its Paramount division did very well in recent years, Gulf and Western's success as a whole was translating poorly with investors. This process eventually led Davis to divest many of
9940-643: The country (as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation were). Paramount Pictures was not connected to either Paramount Records (1910s–1935) or ABC-Paramount Records (1955–66) until it purchased the rights to use the name (but not the latter's catalog) in the late 1960s. The Paramount name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the Dot Records catalog which Paramount had acquired in 1957. By 1970, Dot had become an all-country label and in 1974, Paramount sold all of its record holdings to ABC Records , which in turn
10080-520: The country in 1986. Worldwide Media Sales, a division of the New York-based Worldwide Media Group had been placed in charge of the undertaking. That year, Paramount Pictures decided to consolidate its distribution operations, closing a number of branch offices that were designed for the studio and relocating staff and major activities in an effort to cut costs and provide for a more efficient centralization; this decision
10220-477: The film began in July 2017, in Los Angeles and San Francisco , California. It was released on December 21, 2018, to positive reviews. Following the film's critical success, Hasbro intends to continue and evolve the franchise similar to Bumblebee . In March 2019, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura announced ongoing developments for a follow-up to Bumblebee . By January 2020, it was officially announced that
10360-570: The film community. Since then, former next-door neighbor RKO closed up shop in 1957 (Paramount ultimately absorbed their former lot); Warner Bros. (whose old Sunset Boulevard studio was sold to Paramount in 1949 as a home for KTLA ) moved to Burbank in 1930; Columbia joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to Culver City in 1989; and the Pickford-Fairbanks-Goldwyn-United Artists lot, after
10500-429: The film for many problems. Bay promised to not have the "dorky comedy" from the last film. In February 2012, producer di Bonaventura stated that a fourth film was in the works, aiming for a 2014 release, with Michael Bay to direct and produce. On the same day, Paramount Pictures and Michael Bay announced a June 27, 2014 release date for a fourth film. Ehren Kruger would pen the script and Steve Jablonsky would score
10640-780: The film, as each had for the previous film. The film is set five years after the events in Transformers: Dark of the Moon . Shia LaBeouf did not return in any future installments. Mark Wahlberg was instead cast in the lead role as new character, Cade Yeager. In November 2012, casting began to search for two more leads. Isabelle Cornish , Nicola Peltz , Gabriella Wilde , and Margaret Qualley were all considered to play Cade's daughter Tessa Yeager, while Luke Grimes , Landon Liboiron , Brenton Thwaites , Jack Reynor , and Hunter Parrish were all considered to play Tessa's race-car-driving boyfriend, Shane Dyson. Bay announced on his website that Reynor would portray Shane and that
10780-587: The film. Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet were also brought aboard for writing duties. After Transformers: Age of Extinction , Bay had decided not to direct any future Transformers films. But in early January 2016, in an interview with Rolling Stone , he stated that he would return to direct the fifth film, and that it will be his last Transformers film. Paramount Pictures spent $ 80 million on production in Michigan, in return for $ 21 million in state incentives , under agreements entered into before
10920-408: The filmmaker officially left the franchise. In December 2018, di Bonaventura stated that there will be further films in the series, while also acknowledging that the franchise will make some changes in tone and style due to the success of Bumblebee . In July 2021, producer di Bonaventura and actor Henry Golding expressed interest developing a crossover film. In July 2021, a crossover film with
11060-511: The finance committee in order to assist vice-president and treasurer Ralph A. Kohn. However, on January 6, 1933, Hertz resigned from his position when it become evident that his measures to lift the company had failed. The over-expansion and use of overvalued Paramount stock for purchases created a $ 21 million debt which led the company into receivership on January 26, 1933, and later filing bankruptcy on March 14, 1933. On April 17, 1933, bankruptcy trustees were appointed and Zukor lost control of
11200-408: The fourth film would start the next installment in the overall series; the film was to be a darker sequel to Dark of the Moon and have a different feeling. Peter Cullen , who voiced Optimus Prime in the films, was to reprise his role. Tyrese Gibson was in talks to reprise his role as Sgt. Robert Epps from the original trilogy. Glenn Morshower stated that he was contracted for two films and he
11340-626: The highest-grossing film up to that time, grossing over $ 1.8 billion worldwide. Also during this time, three Paramount Pictures films won the Academy Award for Best Picture; Titanic , Braveheart , and Forrest Gump . Paramount's most important property, however, was Star Trek . Studio executives had begun to call it "the franchise" in the 1980s due to its reliable revenue, and other studios envied its "untouchable and unduplicatable" success. By 1998, Star Trek television shows, movies, books, videotapes, and licensing provided so much of
11480-515: The job for eight years, restoring Paramount's reputation for commercial success with The Odd Couple , Rosemary's Baby , Love Story , The Godfather , Chinatown , and 3 Days of the Condor . Gulf and Western also bought the neighboring Desilu Productions television studio (once the lot of RKO Pictures ) from Lucille Ball in 1967. Using some of Desilu's established shows such as Star Trek , Mission: Impossible , and Mannix as
11620-465: The kind that once made Paramount the industry leader. Around the end of 1981, Paramount Pictures took over fellow Gulf and Western subsidiary Sega from the company's manufacturing division in an effort to get into the video game business. Paramount would go on to sell Sega following the Video Game Crash of 1983 , and the two companies would later work together on the live action/CGI Sonic
11760-668: The late 1920s and the early 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful draws: Richard Arlen , Nancy Carroll , Maurice Chevalier , Gary Cooper , Marlene Dietrich , Charles Ruggles , Ruth Chatterton , William Powell , Mae West , Sylvia Sidney , Bing Crosby , Claudette Colbert , the Marx Brothers , W.C. Fields , Fredric March , Jack Oakie , Jeanette MacDonald (whose first two films were shot at Paramount's Astoria, New York , studio), Carole Lombard , George Raft , Miriam Hopkins , Cary Grant and Stuart Erwin , among them. In this period Paramount can truly be described as
11900-470: The loss of the theater chain, Paramount Pictures went into a decline, cutting studio-backed production, releasing its contract players, and making production deals with independents. By the mid-1950s, all the great names were gone; only Cecil B. DeMille , associated with Paramount since 1913, kept making pictures in the grand old style. Despite Paramount's losses, DeMille would, however, give the studio some relief and create his most successful film at Paramount,
12040-616: The middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan "Famous Players in Famous Plays"). By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success. Its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth , which starred Sarah Bernhardt . That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky , opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, later known as Samuel Goldwyn . The Lasky company hired as their first employee
12180-543: The movie. Bumblebee's new alternate mode was revealed to be a modified vintage 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, which later transforms into a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro concept. A green military vehicle (later confirmed to be Hound) and a white emergency response vehicle were also revealed. Filming began in June 2013, in Detroit , Chicago , Austin , Los Angeles, and Hong Kong . The film was released on June 27, 2014. In March 2015, Deadline Hollywood reported that Paramount Pictures
12320-660: The new United Paramount Theaters on December 31, 1949. Leonard Goldenson , who had headed the chain since 1938, remained as the new company's president. The Balaban and Katz theatre division was spun off with UPT; its trademark eventually became the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. The foundation later acquired ownership of the Famous Players trademark. Cash-rich and controlling prime downtown real estate, Goldenson began looking for investments. Barred from film-making by prior antitrust rulings, he acquired
12460-565: The offer due to antitrust concerns. For all intents and purposes, this was the end of DuMont, though it lingered on until 1956. In 1951, Paramount bought a stake in International Telemeter , an experimental pay TV service which operated with a coin inserted into a box. The service began operating in Palm Springs, California on November 27, 1953, but due to pressure from the FCC, the service ended on May 15, 1954. With
12600-740: The other integrated studio-theatre combines made more money than ever. At this, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department decided to reopen their case against the five integrated studios. Paramount also had a monopoly over Detroit movie theaters through subsidiary company United Detroit Theaters. This led to the Supreme Court decision United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948) holding that movie studios could not also own movie theater chains. This decision broke up Adolph Zukor's creation, with
12740-525: The ownership rights to the Rysher library, after Viacom acquired the rights from Cox Enterprises . Transformers (film series) Transformers is a series of science fiction action films based on the Transformers franchise . Michael Bay directed the first five live action films: Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014), and The Last Knight (2017), and has served as
12880-573: The performances are competent its chances in the general market are spotty." Harrison's Reports wrote that the film should give "... fairly good satisfaction to the general run of audiences, although it will probably find its best reception in the smaller towns and cities." John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote: "Every cliché of musical barnyard drama is included here, and the song lyrics run to such idiocies as 'Purt Nigh but Not Plumb.' Associated with Mr. Merrill in this hayshaking enterprise are Alan Young and Dinah Shore. They'll make you long for
13020-558: The production side, Hiram Abrams in charge of distribution, and Zukor making great plans. With only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players–Lasky and its "Paramount Pictures" soon dominated the business. The fusion was finalized on November 7, 1916. Because Zukor believed in stars, he signed and developed many of the leading early stars, including Mary Pickford , Marguerite Clark , Pauline Frederick , Douglas Fairbanks , Gloria Swanson , Rudolph Valentino , and Wallace Reid . With so many important players, Paramount
13160-549: The results. In addition to using the 3-D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron's team, Bay and the team spent nine months developing a more portable 3-D camera that could be brought into location. On the day of the film's release, Shia LaBeouf announced that Dark of the Moon would be his last Transformers film. In a hidden extra for the Blu-ray release of Revenge of the Fallen , Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 not necessarily larger than Revenge of
13300-480: The revived interest in 3-D technology brought in by the success of Avatar , talks between Paramount, ILM, and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3-D, and testing was performed to bring the technology into Bay's work. Bay originally was not much interested in the format as he felt it did not fit his "aggressive style" of filmmaking, but he was convinced after talks with Avatar director James Cameron , who even offered
13440-428: The robots during the sound mixing (although none of this was kept in the final film, which ran fifteen minutes shorter than the initial edit). Furman's The Ultimate Guide , published by Dorling Kindersley , remained as a resource to the writers throughout production. Prime Directive was used as a fake working title . This was also the name of Dreamwave Productions ' first Transformers comic book . Michael Bay
13580-431: The room after just one day to undergo throat surgery. In July 2015, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner were announced as the fifth Transformers film's screenwriters. However, on November 20, due to Goldsman's commitments creating a writers' room for G.I. Joe and Micronauts properties, Paramount began to negotiate with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway ( Iron Man ), as well as Ken Nolan ( Black Hawk Down ), to write
13720-461: The sale of Gulf and Western's industrial properties in the mid-1980s, Paramount bought a string of television stations and KECO Entertainment 's theme park operations, renaming them Paramount Parks . These parks included Paramount's Great America , Paramount Canada's Wonderland , Paramount's Carowinds , Paramount's Kings Dominion , and Paramount's Kings Island . In May 1985, Paramount decided to start its own talent department, an attempt to form
13860-693: The sale of Gulf and Western's non-entertainment properties to take over the TVX Broadcast Group chain of television stations (which at that point consisted mainly of large-market stations which TVX had bought from Taft Broadcasting , plus two mid-market stations which TVX owned prior to the Taft purchase), and the KECO Entertainment chain of theme parks from Taft successor Great American Broadcasting. Both of these companies had their names changed to reflect new ownership: TVX became known as
14000-439: The science fiction elements more prominent. Lorenzo di Bonaventura said that in total, there are around forty robots in the film, while ILM 's Scott Farrar has said there are actually sixty. Orci added that he wanted to "modulate" the humor more, and felt he managed the more "outrageous" jokes by balancing them with a more serious plot approach to the Transformers' mythology. Bay concurred that he wanted to please fans by making
14140-485: The screenplay while "locked" in two hotel rooms by Bay: Kruger wrote in his own room and the trio would check on each other's work twice a day. Orci described the film's theme as "being away from home", with the Autobots contemplating living on Earth as they cannot restore Cybertron, while Sam goes to college. He wanted the focus between the robots and humans "much more evenly balanced", "the stakes [to] be higher", and
14280-472: The sole screenwriter for Dark of the Moon . Kruger had frequent meetings with Industrial Light & Magic 's (ILM) CGI visual effects producers, who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl. On October 1, 2009, Bay revealed that Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre-production, and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of July 1, 2011, rather than 2012. Due to
14420-437: The state legislature eliminated the film office incentive program in July 2015. In April 2016, Paramount hired cinematographer Jonathan Sela. On May 17, Bay revealed the official title of the film to be The Last Knight on his Instagram account, where he also posted a production video showing a close-up of Optimus Prime's face with purple eyes instead of blue, and his face mostly discolored. The official Twitter account showed
14560-538: The streets outside." English film historian and critic Leslie Halliwell considered Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick to be "[h]omespun entertainment based on a staple success of the American provincial theatre, with pleasant songs added." All songs written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans: "Marshmallow Moon" was a hit before the film was released. Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation , commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount ,
14700-447: The struggling ABC television network in February 1953, leading it first to financial health, and eventually, in the mid-1970s, to first place in the national Nielsen ratings, before selling out to Capital Cities in 1985 (Capital Cities would eventually sell out, in turn, to The Walt Disney Company in 1996). United Paramount Theaters was renamed ABC Theaters in 1965 and was sold to businessman Henry Plitt in 1977. The movie theater chain
14840-480: The studio's library includes many individual films such as The Godfather and Titanic , both of which became the highest-grossing films of all time during their initial releases. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Paramount is the sixth oldest surviving film studio in the world; after Gaumont Film Company (1895), Pathé (1896), Titanus (1904), Nordisk Film (1906), and Universal Pictures (1912). It
14980-467: The studio's profit that "it is not possible to spend any reasonable amount of time at Paramount and not be aware of [its] presence"; filming for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine required up to nine of the largest of the studio's 36 sound stages . In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries ' United Television launched United Paramount Network (UPN) with Star Trek: Voyager as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for
15120-512: The studios' West Coast productions. On January 5, 1926, Lasky reached an agreement to buy the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility owned by United Pictures and located at 5451 Marathon Street, for $ 1.0 million (equivalent to $ 13.8 million in 2023). On March 29, the company began an eight-month building program to renovate the existing facilities and erect new ones. On May 8, Lasky finally moved operations from
15260-408: The technical crew from that film. Cameron reportedly told Bay about 3-D, "You gotta look at it as a toy, it's another fun tool to help get emotion and character and create an experience." Bay was reluctant to film with 3-D cameras since in test he found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style, but he did not want to implement the technology in post production either since he was not pleased with
15400-410: The theater chain being split into a new company, United Paramount Theaters , and effectively brought an end to the classic Hollywood studio system . With the separation of production and exhibition forced by the U.S. Supreme Court, Paramount Pictures Inc. was split in two. Paramount Pictures Corporation was formed to be the production distribution company, with the 1,500-screen theater chain handed to
15540-428: The three companies into one. The new company Lasky and Zukor founded on June 28, Famous Players–Lasky Corporation , although it continued to use the name "Paramount," as well. As a result, it became the largest film company at the time with a value of US$ 12.5 million (equivalent to $ 241.8 million in 2023). The corporation was able to grow quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldwyn and DeMille running
15680-409: The tone darker, and that "moms will think its safe enough to bring the kids back out to the movies" despite his trademark sense of humor. Before Transformers was released, producer DeSanto had "a very cool idea" to introduce the Dinobots, while Bay was interested in an aircraft carrier , which was dropped from the 2007 film. Orci claimed they did not incorporate these characters into Revenge of
15820-541: The world was also dropped, being used later in the film's sequels. In September 2007, Paramount announced a late June 2009 release date for the sequel to Transformers . A major hurdle that was overcome during the film's production was the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike , as well as possible strikes by the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild . Bay began creating animatics of action sequences featuring characters rejected for
15960-406: The world, while its fortuitous earlier acquisition of the Star Trek property, which had grown into a cult favorite , enabled Paramount to have a long running science fiction film and television franchise to compete with the outstanding popular success of Star Wars . Diller's television background led him to propose one of his longest-standing ideas to the board: Paramount Television Service ,
16100-420: The writer's room collaboration process, as a way to map out stories that can be further developed by the projects that are green-lit by the brain trust; stating: "...if one of the writers discovers an affinity for [a particular story], they can drive forward on treatments that will have been fleshed out by the whole room." In August 2017, following the poor reception of The Last Knight which Goldsman co-wrote,
16240-440: Was Charles Lang and its costumes were designed by Edith Head . A dreamy farm widow is obsessed with moving to the city. She is courted by her shy bumpkin neighbor Aaron Slick. She is nearly tricked out of her oil-rich land by crooks . The film stars Alan Young , Dinah Shore and Robert Merrill . It was Young's first starring role after three supporting roles in the 1940s. Shore had not acted on screen since 1944's Belle of
16380-598: Was a more interested listener. However, the television division would be playing catch-up for over a decade after Diller's departure in 1984 before launching its own television network – UPN – in 1995. Lasting eleven years before being merged with The WB network to become The CW in 2006, UPN would feature many of the shows it originally produced for other networks, and would take numerous gambles on series such as Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise that would have otherwise either gone direct-to-cable or become first-run syndication to independent stations across
16520-433: Was able to introduce " block booking ", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on antitrust grounds for more than twenty years. By the mid-1920s, the old Lasky-DeMille barn property was not big enough to handle all of
16660-526: Was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as "talkies", and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris . Richard A. Whiting and Leo Robin composed the score for the film; Maurice Chevalier starred and sang the most famous song from the film, " Louise ". The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. He built a chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios (in Astoria, New York , now
16800-411: Was asked to direct by Spielberg on July 30, 2005, but he dismissed the film as a "stupid toy movie". Nonetheless, he wanted to work with Spielberg, and gained a new respect for the mythology upon visiting Hasbro. Bay considered the first draft "too kiddie", so he increased the military's role in the story. The writers sought inspiration from G.I. Joe for the soldier characters, being careful not to mix
16940-403: Was cast as the female lead. Bay confirmed that the movie was to be in 3D. Bay revealed to Collider that actor Stanley Tucci had joined the cast, and that the film would be the first feature film to be shot using smaller digital IMAX 3D cameras . On May 1, 2013, actor Kelsey Grammer was cast as the lead human villain named "Harold Attinger". On May 6, 2013, actress Sophia Myles was cast in
17080-443: Was cast in one of the lead roles for the film, with Dominique Fishback in final talks to play the lead role. The project will be a joint-venture production between Hasbro, eOne, and Paramount Pictures. Principal photography began in June 2021, with the official title announced as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts , confirmed to be set after the events of Bumblebee . Rise of the Beasts was scheduled for release in June 2022, but
17220-402: Was delayed to June 9, 2023. In March 2013, during the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation , producer di Bonaventura announced the studio's plans to develop a G.I. Joe /Transformers crossover. On July 26, 2013, G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon M. Chu stated that he was also interested in directing a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover film. Despite di Bonaventura stating that a crossover
17360-429: Was even more popular than Mickey Mouse . After an unsuccessful expansion into feature films, as well as the fact that Max and Dave Fleischer were no longer speaking to one another, Fleischer Studios was acquired by Paramount, which renamed the operation Famous Studios . That incarnation of the animation studio continued cartoon production until 1967, but has been historically dismissed as having largely failed to maintain
17500-415: Was given by a soldier when working on another film. Orci and Kurtzman experimented with numerous robots from the franchise, ultimately selecting the characters most popular among the filmmakers to form the final cast. Bay acknowledged that most of the Decepticons were selected before their names or roles were developed, as Hasbro had to start designing the toys. Some of their names were changed because Bay
17640-572: Was in talks with Akiva Goldsman to pitch new ideas for the Transformers franchise's future installments. The studio intends to do what James Cameron and 20th Century Fox have been doing in planning three Avatar sequels, and what Disney has done to revive Star Wars , with sequels and spin-offs. Paramount has wanted to have their own cinematic universe for Transformers , similar to Marvel 's/ Disney 's Marvel Cinematic Universe (which had been one of Paramount's previous film series), and DC Comics / Warner Bros. ' DC Extended Universe . Goldsman
17780-413: Was interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike , but to avoid production delays the writers spent two weeks writing a treatment , which they handed in the night before the strike began, and Bay expanded the outline into a sixty-page scriptment , fleshing out the action, adding more jokes, as well as selecting the majority of new characters. The three writers spent four months finishing
17920-585: Was made in response to a change in distribution practices that had occurred among the various major studios. In August 1987, Paramount Overseas Productions declared that the subsidiary would be in service not just for the upcoming film Experts , which was shot on a budget of $ 12 million in Canada , but also for other films filmed there worldwide, including the United Kingdom and Canada . In 1993, Sumner Redstone 's entertainment conglomerate Viacom made
18060-409: Was not in the immediate plans for the franchises, he acknowledged that it was something they intended to do. In March 2015, Paramount hired Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to oversee and compile a team of writers, to pitch ideas for future films to expand the franchise into a cinematic universe. Twelve individual stories were written and pitched for the cinematic universe. Goldsman
18200-630: Was planning a G.I. Joe film adaptation , but when the U.S. launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Hasbro suggested adapting the Transformers franchise instead. Tom DeSanto joined Murphy because he was a fan of the series. They met with comic book writer Simon Furman , and cited the Generation 1 cartoon and comics as their main influence. They made the Creation Matrix their plot device , though Murphy had it renamed because of
18340-585: Was re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and when the company was under Balaban's leadership, the studio was successfully relaunched. As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were Gloria Swanson , Wallace Reid , Rudolph Valentino , Florence Vidor , Thomas Meighan , Pola Negri , Bebe Daniels , Antonio Moreno , Richard Dix , Esther Ralston , Emil Jannings , George Bancroft , Betty Compson , Clara Bow , Adolphe Menjou , and Charles Buddy Rogers . By
18480-520: Was released. On May 8, 1914, Paramount Pictures Corporation (previously known as Progressive Pictures) was founded by a Utah theatre owner, W. W. Hodkinson , who had bought and merged five smaller firms. On May 15, 1914, Hodkinson signed a five-year contract with the Famous Players Film Company, the Lasky Company and Bosworth, Inc. to distribute their films. Actor, director and producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of
18620-483: Was renamed Plitt Theaters. In 1985, Cineplex Odeon Corporation merged with Plitt. In later years, Paramount's TV division would develop a strong relationship with ABC, providing many hit series to the network. Paramount Pictures had been an early backer of television, launching experimental stations in 1939 in Los Angeles and Chicago. The Los Angeles station eventually became KTLA , the first commercial station on
18760-503: Was sold to MCA (now Universal Music Group ) in 1979. Paramount's successful run of pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like Airplane! , American Gigolo , Ordinary People , An Officer and a Gentleman , Flashdance , Terms of Endearment , Footloose , Pretty in Pink , Top Gun , Crocodile Dundee , Fatal Attraction , Ghost , the Friday
18900-460: Was still chairman emeritus; he referred to chairman Barney Balaban (born 1888) as "the boy". Such aged leadership was incapable of keeping up with the changing times, and in 1966, a sinking Paramount was sold to Charles Bluhdorn 's industrial conglomerate, Gulf and Western Industries . Bluhdorn immediately put his stamp on the studio, installing a virtually unknown producer named Robert Evans as head of production. Despite some rough times, Evans held
19040-542: Was tasked with developing a multi-part sequel storyline, along with prequels and spin-off films. A "brain trust" was commissioned to guide the productions of these stories, including Goldsman, Michael Bay, and producers Steven Spielberg and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. The team of writers who were hired included: Robert Kirkman , Art Marcum, Matt Holloway , Zak Penn , Jeff Pinkner , Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, Christina Hodson , Lindsey Anderson Beer, Ken Nolan , Geneva Robertson-Dworet , and Steven DeKnight . Goldsman described
19180-502: Was temporarily closed with the objective of equipping it with the technology for the production of sound films . In the same year, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps , animated cartoons produced by Max and Dave Fleischer 's Fleischer Studios in New York City. The Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney . The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957. Paramount
19320-454: Was the big player in New York City, and did not want the Publix theaters to overshadow theirs. The two companies brokered a non-competition deal for New York City and Chicago, and Loew's took over the New York City area projects, developing five wonder theaters . Publix continued Balaban's wonder theater development in its home area. On April 24, 1930, Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation became
19460-464: Was to reprise his role. It was later announced that he would not be return until the next film. With a budget of $ 165 million, filming was expected to take place in London between April and November 2013—once Pain & Gain , another film that Bay was directing, had finished editing. On January 8, 2013, it was announced that Reynor was joining Wahlberg in the lead. On March 26, 2013, Nicola Peltz
19600-436: Was upset that they had been leaked. Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream were the only characters present in each version of the script. Arcee was a female Transformer introduced by Orci and Kurtzman, but she was cut because they found it difficult to explain robotic gender; Bay also disliked her motorcycle form, which he found too small. An early idea to have the Decepticons simultaneously strike multiple places around
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